1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for authenticating the opening of electronic data which are to be generally opened to the public through a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the Internet has been remarkably popularized, and enterprises, associations, individuals etc. in large numbers have set up home pages on the Internet. The users of the Internet can access such a large number of home pages and obtain multifarious information items with Web browsers.
Conversely speaking, the enterprises, associations, individuals etc. on the side of putting and offering the information on the home pages have opened the information to the large number of users who can access the home pages through the Internet. A marked trend to open issued objects as electronic data on the Internet is expected, unlike the conventional way of opening where information items are presented to the public by printing them on sheets of paper as in conventional magazines.
In the current circumstances, any information is freely written up on any home page by the information sending side, and no agency manages the contents of such information, the location of such a home page, and the time at which and the person by whom the information has been included on the home page. Accordingly, even when the issued object has been included on the home page as the electronic data, the whole responsibility is placed on the sender of the information.
As stated before, the information sender is free to write up the contents (WWW contents where "WWW" is short for "World Wide Web") of the object (electronic data object) to-be-opened being the electronic data which are to be included on the home page, and there has not been any system for authenticating the issuance and opening of the WWW contents. Accordingly, in case of altering the information opening method from the paper medium form (in which the information is printed on the sheets of paper) into the WWW publication form (in which the information is included as the electronic data on a home page or the like), the information sender has had the time of the opening and the contents of the information authenticated by preparing, not only the WWW contents, but also the same contents on a paper medium (e.g. in book or journal form), and then delivering the material to a public agency such as the National Diet Library in Japan.
In this manner, the authentication of the contents of the information as well as the time of the opening has necessitated the preparation of the printed publication of the same contents on a paper medium, separately from the opening of the WWW contents. Therefore, even when the opening of the contents has been performed electronically, the preparation of a printed publication is inevitable, so that the merits of the electronic opening are ruined by such drawbacks as an additional cost and the increased stock of unnecessary printed matter.